Year: 2002
Type: article
Abstract: Seismic activity in the Western Carpathians is closely related to the crustal rheology and combined structural pattern within the brittle upper crust.The structural pattern is a combination of three structural levels.The deepest level is represented by the Paleo-Alpine suture zones dissected by neo-Alpine fault structures, above all strikeslip fault zones (second level).The recent tectonic regimes are controlled by the contemporary stress field and vertical movements (third level).Following the analyses of structures and various geophysical data, the principal seismo-tectonic zones of the Western Carpathians are defined.The most remarkable and important first-order tectonic structure in the Western Carpathians is the zone of the Pieniny Klippen Belt, which represents the contact of the Western Carpathian internides and the stable European Platform.The Mur-Mürz-Leitha fault zone in the area of the Vienna Basin represents the contact of the Eastern Alps with the block of Western Carpathian internides.Both these tectonic lines represent subvertical boundaries with Tertiary tectonic activity.The Čertovica fault zone is a surface projection of the thrust plane of the Veporic thick-skinned sheet over the Tatric unit.Based on geological and geophysical data it is assumed that the Čertovica zone is recently active due to its extensional reactivation.Earthquake events are released here mostly along the Hron fault system of the ENE-WSW direction.The next important tectonic structure is the Hurbanovo-Diósjenő line, which is most probably the continuation of the Rába line into the Slovak territory.Based on reflection seismic interpretations, there are several low-angle fault surfaces dipping to the SE.These thrust planes were reactivated dur-Correspondence to: M. Kováč (kovacm
Language: English
Subfield: Geophysics
Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W2139667360